Ag2r-Citroën eyes entry to the women’s peloton
Long-running French squad looking for extra backing to create women's team.
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Ag2r-Citroën could become the next WorldTour outfit to also run a women’s team.
“It’s an ambition,” team manager Vincent Lavenu told Le Dauphiné. “We have been thinking about it for a few years, but we have to find the means. The idea is valuable, we are working on it.”
The team, home of Greg Van Avermaet, Bob Jungels, and Larry Warbasse, has long run junior and development programs but is now looking to follow French rivals Cofidis by imminently branching into the women’s peloton.
The main obstacle is money, said Lavenu, who told Le Dauphiné that two million Euros would be needed to make it possible. Having recently welcomed aboard Citroën as a new co-sponsor for 2021, the possibility of a women’s squad would come with the arrival of new backers.
Lavenu indicated this weekend that deals may already be in the making.
“I hope that in a few months we will have good news,” he said. “This creation will certainly go through the arrival of another sponsor.”
Should Lavenu’s dream be realized, Ag2r-Citroën would join a growing list of male WorldTour teams to also run a women’s squad. Team BikeExchange, Astana-Premier Tech, Groupama-FDJ, Lotto-Soudal, Team DSM, Jumbo-Visma, and Trek-Segafredo all currently run dual programs, with Team Cofidis last month confirming its plans to launch a women’s team in 2022.